By Pamela Burke
It’s a cool, overcast morning in the Marin Headlands when runner Brent Thomson sets off for her 6AM jaunt. But hers is no ordinary undertaking. She’s sprinting 20 miles over hills and tough terrain to prepare for the highest and hardest run of her life–the 26.2 mile Everest Marathon on December 2.
“When you put yourself in extreme situations and you come through them, it makes you so much stronger.” Brent Thomson
The race starts on Mt. Everest in Nepal at 17,200 feet and ends 6,000 feet below. It’s a helicopter ride in and a 30 mile trek to the starting point. Brent’s approaching her sixtieth birthday but doesn’t give much thought to the age factor. For this Senior V. P. at Pacific Union International, a real estate firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, the morning run is a piece of cake.
It may be cake to her but the rigorous exercise program would give a lot of athletes severe heart palpitations. She runs 18-26 miles every Saturday and 6-10 miles two days a week. Then there are two days of rigorous CrossFit training with just one day of rest. So how and why does she do it? We set out to find an explanation for Brent’s latest ultramarathon goal… [Read more…]